Perfect Packin’ Pistol Part 2

We continue our look at the Personification of the Perfect Packin’ Pistol by concentrating on 4″ double-action Smith & Wesson sixguns by remembering these words from the Taffin Dictionary of Sixgunning: “‘Perfect Packin’ Pistol’ is a title given to a sixgun or semi-automatic with a barrel not less than 4″ nor more than 5-1/2″ which can be carried easily all day in a well-designed holster, placed under a bed roll comfortably at night and can be expected to handle any situation which should arise.”

In The Beginning

The roots of the .44 Special go back to the Model #3 American. It was chambered in .44 Henry Rimfire, making it a companion to the 1860 Henry levergun. However, the military wanted a centerfire cartridge and the result was the .44 S&W American. The Russians gave Smith & Wesson a large contract for this Model #3 but made changes — the best was the .44 Russian ammunition. Both the Henry and American .44s used a heeled bullet with smaller base-diameter fitted inside the case with the rest of the bullet the same diameter as the outside of the case, much like the .22 Long Rifle today. The Russians wanted a uniform diameter bullet smaller in diameter than the outside of the case.

The .44 Russian proved to be a superb cartridge and shooters such as Walter Winans and Chevalier Ira Paine were soon setting records that stood for decades. When I assembled .44 Russian rounds as close as I could come to the original black powder version, I was able to put 25 rounds in one hole shooting a 7-1/2″ Bisley Model Colt.

After their success with the lengthening of the .38 Long Colt cartridge to become the .38 Special, Smith & Wesson turned their sights upon the .44 Russian, lengthening it to become the .44 Special. In early 1908 the first N-Frame S&W revolver arrived. Basically, an enlarged Military & Police, there were two differences aside from the chambering. This was the first Smith & Wesson sixgun to have an enclosed ejector rod and the cylinder was locked in three places — the rear, the front of the ejector rod and the front of the cylinder using a beautifully machined third lock. Officially named the .44 Hand Ejector 1st Model, it was also known as the New Century .44 Military Model of 1908. For those who really appreciate quality sixguns, however, it became the Triple-Lock.

Lawdogs

This sixgun, especially with a 4″ barrel, was very popular with peace officers in the Southwest and FBI agent Jelly Bryce also favored this .44 Special Model 1926 until the arrival of the .357 Magnum. Target Models are very rare and quite valuable and I have never seen one with a 4″ barrel though factory records show two were shipped in 1940. I have been fortunate to come up with two 4″ fixed-sighted models thanks mainly to readers who stumbled onto them at an exceptionally low price and contacted me about them.

The epitome of the 4″ double-action .44 Special was reached in 1950 with the arrival of the 4th Model Hand Ejector or as it is most often known the 1950 Target. Mainly offered with a 6-1/2″ barrel, Target models are also found very rarely with 5″ barrels. Four-inch Target Models are scarce but can be found and I have come up with two of these. Elmer Keith favored the 1950 Target with a 4″ barrel as his every day Packin’ Pistol from its introduction until the .44 Magnum version arrived in 1956. He carried the Special in his duties as Salmon, Idaho town constable and he also used it to take his yearly mule deer when he was hobbling along on a bad ankle while fishing.

Skeeter Skelton sold his 4″ 1950 Target when the .44 Magnum arrived, however he soon found the latter was too powerful for law enforcement use and went back to the .44 Special 1950 Target. In his writings he had a load using the Keith bullet over 7.5 grains of Unique. He got this load from Keith but made it popular and it is now universally known as the Skeeter Load. This load has a muzzle velocity of about 925 fps from the 4″ barrel, making it sufficiently powerful — while still controllable — for about 99% of everything we ever want to do with a sixgun.

In addition to the 1950 Target, S&W also offered a fixed-sighted version, the Model 1950 Military. The 4″ version is a particularly rugged sixgun. In 1957 when all Smith & Wesson sixguns received model numbers, the Target Model became the Model 24, while the Military Model was designated the Model 21. All Smith & Wesson .44 Specials were dropped in 1966. It could have been the end of it except for Skeeter Skelton. Skeeter began to lobby both Colt and Smith & Wesson to return the .44 Special to their catalogs.

Skeeter not only wrote about the return of the .44 Special, he also instigated a letter writing campaign. In response Smith & Wesson came out with that Model 24-3 .44 Special in both 4″ and 6-1/2″ lengths and this was followed with the Model 624, the stainless steel version in the same barrel lengths. I soon had a pair of 4″ Model 24-3s and a Model 624 with the same barrel length. I’m so pleased with these guns. They have been fitted with pre-ban ivory stocks with the blue versions carved in the Elmer Keith pattern and the ivories on the Model 624 scrimshawed by Twyla, the late wife of my friend Jim Taylor.

All of these along, with my 1950 Target, 1926 Model and restored Triple-Locks are all highly cherished sixguns that will eventually be passed on to my grandkids.

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